I'm in day two of a three day Prius TRAC rental.<br><br>So far, my impressions are similar to that of other posters that I've read.<br><br>The Prius is a bit slow off the line, but once at speed it is a peppy little vehicle. Accelerates nicely even from 75 MPH, Accelerates nicely when going uphill - even on some of the steepest streets in San Francisco. I was impressed.<br><br>Corners nicely, but tends to wander unless carefully watched. Nice tight turning radius. Easy to park.<br><br>Fit and finish are good, doors close with a satisfying thunk. Knobs and switches feel well balanced. Trunk lid sounds a bit tinny. Stereo is not bad.<br><br>First part of the drive I got a solid 45 mpg despite cruising at 75 mph and testing performance with jackrabbit starts and passing on hills. Second part of the drive yielded 55 mpg on the freeway with nothing more fancy than holding a steady speed of 65. The final part of the drive home over city streets boosted the mileage to 60.1 mpg.<br><br>The Prius -needs- cruise control (I know it is available, just making an observation).<br><br>Often it would make this whine/hum/weird_noise for a few seconds at a time, sometimes associated with brakeing, sometimes not. It was clearly something electronic, sort of like a 120 cycle hum or the whine from a flyback transformer, if you know what I mean. Does anyone elses Prius do that?<br><br>Two thumbs up so far.<br><br>Rick

What is a TRAC rental?

T.oyota R.ent A. Car.<br><br>I'm thinking of buying a Prius, but wanted more time in it than a test drive would allow.<br><br>I was surprised at how quickly I began to look down on the owners of those gas gulping Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators!<br><br>Cheers,<br><br>Rick (Owner of a 1992 Ford Explorer :-) I won't give up the Explorer, but I'll feel better using it only for off-road and heavy lifting. It never felt right using it as a commuter car.

I understand from my Prius tech that the high whine you hear is the generator (or small motor generating electricity per Toyota) really speeding up during braking. When we picked up our Prius in February this guy warned us about the whine and said not to worry about it. He said it cen get up to phenominal rpms.

I've noticed that whine, but I don't believe it is a revving phenomenon. First off, when braking, the regeneration power comes from MG2, which is hard-connected to spin proportional to the speed of the wheels. It can't 'spin up' when you brake. Second, MG1 ('the generator' which generates electricity from the ICE) spins proportional to ICE + MG2 + K (a constant) so the only way MG1 can spin up on braking is by the ICE slowing down. Chance are the ICE stopped or slowed down as soon as you took your foot off the accelerator.<br><br>Anyway, I subscribe to the theory that we are hearing the MG2 "inverters" handling the current generated by braking.<br><br>Burns